The present invention relates to a doffing apparatus for use in a spinning machine in which a yarn is wound up in the form of a cheese or a package, such as a winder, an open end spinning machine, a double twister or the like.
For convenience, the present invention will be described hereinafter by reference to embodiments in which the doffing apparatus of the present invention is applied to an open end spinning machine. The present invention, however, is not limited to such embodiments but it can be applied to any spinning machines of the foregoing types.
In general, an open end spinning machine comprises an air sucker for sucking the yarn end, a device for cutting the spun yarn and a cradle for supporting cheeses. At the doffing step, the following operations are necessary in such spinning machine. Namely, the air sucker is opened, the spun yarn is cut, the cut end of the spun yarn is sucked from a yarn end suction nozzle of the air sucker, the cradle is sprung up to separate a cheese from a winding drum, and the cheese is released from the cradle, and the thus released cheese is placed on a cheese transfer conveyor.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a doffing apparatus in which all or at least some of the foregoing operations necessary at the doffing step can be performed simply and assuredly by one operation member.